The speaker watches spring arrive in Cherry Valley: cherry blossoms drift through the air until the paths look white, then later the branches hang heavy with red fruit. Moonlight filters through dew, petals fall, and fairies seem to pass across the grass. The scene is delicate and slightly magical, full of quiet motion. What makes the poem turn is the speaker’s situation: he calls himself “a habitan of slums,” someone far from this loveliness in everyday life. Yet he does not feel shut out. The fairies, or the vision itself, bring all beauty to him, and he claims a “gift of second sight”—a way of seeing beyond ordinary circumstances. The mood is dreamy and wistful but also lifted, as if imagination lets him possess the valley no matter where he lives.
Cherry Valley — Summary
In Cherry Valley the cherries blow: The valley paths are white as snow.
And in their time with clusters red The scented boughs are crimsoned.
Even now the moon is looking thro' The glimmer of the honey dew.
A petal trembles to the grass, The feet of fairies pass and pass.
By them, I know, all beauty comes To me, a habitan of slums.
I sing no rune, I say no line: The gift of second sight is mine!